BOULDER  Members of a fraternity scrawled racial and other
slurs on the body of an 18-year-old pledge who was passed out and
died hours later of alcohol poisoning, the father of the young man
said.

Lynn Gordon Bailey, father of Gordie Bailey of Dallas, said the
coroner told him markings were found on his son's arms, legs and
trunk. Bailey was white; one of the markings was a six-letter racial
slur.

"This reinforces the nearly unbearable pain of the whole thing,"
Bailey said Thursday.

The death at the University of Colorado fraternity last month and
three similar deaths around the nation have focused attention on
drinking at fraternities and among students in general. The national
headquarters of Chi Psi shut down the Boulder chapter.

"We still don't see any leadership from the university. They
have not proposed any change in the system  but the system
is killing our kids," said Michael Lanahan, Gordie Bailey's
stepfather. "This is not about binge drinking; it's about hazing
at fraternities. How lucky is Chi Psi that 26 pledges survived?"

CU spokeswoman Pauline Hale said the administration is "continuing
to work with the fraternity and sorority leaders to assess all aspects
of Greek life, including the role of alcohol in social activities."

Bailey and the other pledges began the evening Sept. 16 blindfolded
and abandoned in the woods. Police said the pledges were told to
drink large amounts of whiskey and wine.

Later, when they were driven back to the fraternity house after
midnight, Bailey had passed out. Fraternity tradition called for
members to write on the body of any pledge who passed out without
taking his shoes off, a police search warrant said.

The next morning Bailey was found face down on the floor, and could
not be revived. His blood-alcohol level was 0.328 percent, four
times the legal limit for driving in Colorado.

The death came less than two weeks after the death of Samantha
Spady of Beatrice, Neb., a 19-year-old sophomore at Colorado State
University in Fort Collins. She died of alcohol poisoning after
consuming 30 to 40 beers and vodka drinks in 11 hours, authorities
said. Her body also was found in a fraternity house.

Bradley Kemp, 20, died earlier this month after drinking with fraternity
brothers at the University of Arkansas. Officials said he died of
an accidental overdose after mixing cold medicine and alcohol.

And University of Oklahoma student Blake Hammontree, 19, died late
last month after a night of drinking with members of the Sigma Chi
fraternity.